It is Tax Time! A Guide to Those Forms Piling Up in Your Mailbox

If your mailbox is suddenly full of official-looking envelopes, you are not alone. Tax season means a flood of forms from employers, banks, investment firms, and more. We have distilled the most common forms from the IRS website. Below is a list of the forms you may have received and what each one means:

W-2: Your Work Income

• Provided by your employer, if you are a regular employee
• Shows your total wages, tips, and other compensation for the year
• Also breaks down what was withheld for federal and state taxes, Social Security and Medicare, and elective deferrals (retirement plan contributions)
• You should receive this by January 31st

1099-NEC: Self-Employment & Contract Work

• If you worked as an independent contractor or freelancer
• Reports payments of $600 or more from any single client or business
• This income isn’t subject to automatic withholding, so you may owe taxes on it

1099-INT: Interest Income

• Shows interest earned from your bank accounts, savings bonds, or other interest-bearing accounts
• You will receive a 1099-INT if you earned more than $10 in interest during the year

1099-DIV: Dividends & Distributions

• Reports dividends from stocks, mutual funds, or other investments
• Also shows capital gain distributions from mutual funds
• Even small amounts need to be reported

1099-B: Investment Sales

• Details stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or other securities you sold during the year
• Shows whether your gains or losses are short-term or long-term (which affects your tax rate)
• Your brokerage firm sends this one

1099 Composite: Consolidated Statement 

• A consolidated statement including the 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1099-B, and when applicable 1099-B (for taxable income from discounted debt such as bonds and CDs)
• Your brokerage firm sends this one

1099-R: Retirement Distributions

• Reports distributions from IRAs, 401(k)s, pensions, or annuities
• Shows how much you withdrew and whether taxes were withheld
• Important: not all retirement account distributions are taxable

1099-G: Government Payments

• Shows unemployment compensation, state tax refunds, or other government payments
• Yes, unemployment benefits are taxable income
• State tax refunds may be taxable if you itemized deductions in previous years

1099-MISC: Miscellaneous Income

• Covers several types of income like rent payments (if you are a landlord), prizes, awards, or legal settlements
• Also reports royalties or payments to attorneys
• Kind of a catch-all for income that doesn’t fit other categories

1099-K: Payment Card & Third-Party Network Transactions

• You will receive this if you sold goods or services through payment apps or platforms
• Applies if you had more than $5,000 in transactions (threshold varies by year and may change)
• Common for Etsy or eBay sales (or others), or accepting payments through Venmo or PayPal for business

1099-S: Real Estate Transactions

• Reports proceeds from selling real estate
• Even if you qualify for the home sale exclusion, you may still need to report it

Schedule K-1: Partnership, S-Corp, or Trust Income

• If you are a partner in a business, member in an LLC, shareholder in an S-Corporation, or beneficiary of a trust or estate
• Shows your share of income, deductions, and credits
• Can be complex because the income “passes through” to you even if you didn’t receive cash
• Often arrives later than other forms (sometimes not until March or April, or even later)

1098: Mortgage Interest

• Shows how much mortgage interest you paid during the year
• Important if you itemize deductions rather than taking the standard deduction

1098-T: Tuition Statement

• Reports qualified education expenses paid to colleges or universities
• Helps determine eligibility for education credits like the American Opportunity Credit or Lifetime Learning Credit

1098-E: Student Loan Interest

• Shows interest paid on qualified student loans
• You may be able to deduct up to $2,500 of this interest

What To Do with All These Forms

Keep them organized and do not throw anything away for at least 3 years.  If you work with a tax professional, they will need all the forms. If you use tax software, you will enter information from each form as you go through the process.

Missing a form? Contact the issuer directly—most can provide duplicates or grant you online access. And remember, the IRS receives copies of all these forms, too, so it is important to report everything accurately.

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